The Post Tour come down – The Pre BBC Sh*ts! – 19/10/09....

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The Problem with hard work, although it is productive, is that it is bloody hard!!! ....

Firstly I would just like to apologise for the lack of updates on the website. My computer decided one day that it wasn’t going to cooperate and consequently I lost all my work. Nevermind I think I have got a handle on it now.....

Anyway...........................

Its that time again where we give you an update on the progression of “The Dukes Jetty”. Well! Where do I start?...................

The past few months have been more manic than ever for us. We have played 96 gigs this year so far and have plenty more to come. We have also been featured on many BBC radio shows (not to mention being the “Band of the Month” on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire for October) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2009/09/22/botm_dukes_jetty_feature.shtml). ....

Let’s start from the top and work down (seems almost too logical)....

We started this chaotic ordeal with a packed out album launch at one of our local haunts “The Walkabout” in Rugby. The night was a huge success. We had people who came from all over the country from A&R people to booking agents to local and national radio. Not to mention the hordes of Dukes Jetty fans (Yes they both came down!! ;-) ). It was a great night. Thank you to everyone who came down and supported us.....

If you would like to buy a copy of our Debut Album “Fine & Dandy” click here....

o2 Academy Tour....

A few months after the success of the Album Launch we were asked to do a short tour of the o2 Academies. This was a real honour for us because we were picked out of hundreds of potential bands/acts to represent the midlands. The tour consisted of 4 acts playing 4 dates with a rotating headline. The first of these dates was in Newcastle supporting the “Geordie, Alternative / Electro / Indie band” called “Viva City” - http://www.myspace.com/vivacityuk. Top band and a great bunch of lads. Well worth checking out. ....

The Second gig of the tour was in Liverpool supporting the great “Stephen Langstaff” http://www.stephenlangstaff.co.uk/ and his band. (Good god that bloke can belt out a tune!) Fantastic vocalist backed by an equally fantastic band. The journey from Newcastle to Liverpool was (Let’s say) interesting. ....

The day started when we went to pick the van up and we realised that I (Steve) had left the interior light on all night and consequently the battery had run down in Hilda (Thats our van)! I wasn’t the most popular person at the time. So we spent the first few hours of Tuesday morning trying to flag cars down to see if they could help us jump start it. Its not the easiest or most fun thing to do when you’re hanging.Long story short we managed it. ....

Anyway we were off. The gig in Liverpool was a little slower in crowd response to begin with but towards the end of the set it picked up to be a great night and since we have been receiving very positive emails from people who caught the show. Stephen Langstaff went on to headline a near capacity crowd and played a blinding set.....

Third Day of the tour was in our local (ish) venue in Birmingham. Once again we travelled down feeling a bit worse for ware. We rolled into brum at about 1 o clock to set the gear up. Once we had done this we had to pop over to see our old mate at BBC West Midlands, Paul Franks. We had a short interview with him to help promote the gig. Thanks Paul for a great interview and for looking after us.....

The Brum gig was fantastic. We were headling and so we had a coach load of people in the audience. Thanks for all your support guys. The gig itself was fantastic and we had a chance to air one of our newest songs (still untitled). ....

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The fourth and final gig was in Islington, North London, supporting Murray James http://www.myspace.com/murrayjamesmusic....

Murray is a great singer with a very distinctive voice. Fantastic soulful music that would be equally at home in the 60’s as it is in modern day. ....

Unfortunatley for us we were first on and therefore the crowd was a little sparse. We did however play really well and had some great feedback from them. Thanks Nick, Aaron, Qian and especially to Claire from the academy for letting us be a part and enjoy this great experience.....

Radio 2 – The Janice Long Experience....

Radio 2 was looming! We were all gearing ourselves up for making fools of ourselves on the UK’s most popular radio station. After a few months of sh***ing ourselves the day finally arrived. We made our way down to London following a nervous argument caused by trying to fit all the equipment (As well as us) into a Renault Clio! Not comfy, but you will be please to hear that we were successful. The journey down was a mixture of emotions and odours! ....

We arrived about and hour earlier than we should so we decided to go for a pint at the pub round the corner from the studio. Four pints of Peroni = £16.10 (“Not comin’ here again” said Chris)!!!!!!! Lets say we only stayed for one round. ....

Text messages were flooding from friends and family wishing us luck. My Brother sent me (steve) a text stating “good luck, don’t screw up or you’re out the family ;-)”................cheers Jon! ....

We rolled into the BBC studio at about 10.45 to be greeted by “The” Bob Harris! I think he was as impressed by us as we were by him..............I would love to believe that!....

After about 20 cups of coffee, and 50 fags we were taken into the studio to set our gear up. We didn’t have much to set up (hence being able to fit it all into the Clio) so that didn’t take long. Nerves were beginning to calm, smells beginning to disperse, all until..............Janice walked in. “My God this is real, this is really really f*@king real” exclaimed Dave (obvious, but from the heart)....

At this point I decided to save my voice for the performance...................either that or I was so nervous that my vocal chords went on strike. ....

We now had about 20mins to go until we were on..........Janice had started her show. ....

We were sat listening, nervously to oasis’ “Roll With It” trying to calm ourselves down........successfully I might add, until Janice announced......”I’m going to be joined in the studio later by “The Dukes Jetty”, They will be playing live for us”.........once again odours were on the loose!....

The show started very nervously but as we went on we all started to loosen up. Dave was a fantastic spokesman for the band, myself and Chris were adding our nervous, incoherent speeches and Lee did his usual one word, dry, witticisms. ....

Janice was great, she made us feel so comfortable. She had a fantastic, friendly and helpful team with her. ....

All in all it made up a great interview and a thoroughly legendary day for us. (Thank you Janice we hope to see you soon). (...and thank you to everyone for texting in. Glad you all enjoyed it)....

You can here the video with a video collage here....

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?comments&v=156430673508....

Take Care Guys and Girls....

Steve (The Dukes Jetty)....